Marriage Isn't Always About Love
by wowstars
Summary: Rachel and Janet decide to get married for financial reasons, but will it end up like that? Just some light hearted fun. AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is just a little light hearted story to help me when I'm stuck with Blue Room. Chapters will be short but I intend to update as much as possible. Enjoy. **

**Love **

**N xxx**

* * *

"You can stop here tonight. Have a drink, I think we both need it."

Rachel fakes considering it then smiles. "Okay then," she says. "I'll have red."

Janet stands up and goes to fetch their drinks. Rachel sighs. Today had been stressful. Some bright spark had decided he was going to blow up a department store in the city centre. So they had been out negotiating since 6:30am that morning until 2:15 in the afternoon, only for him to blow himself up anyway. They were there another 5 hours before returning to the station to fill out the paperwork and didn't get to leave until 11:45. It had been a long day.

Janet returns with a bottle of wine and two glasses. She pours one and hands it to Rachel.

"Cheers," she clinks her glass with Rachel's. They sip their wine in silence, both thinking.

"Are you sure you don't mind me staying?" Rachel says. "It's the fourth time this week!"

"It's fine, honestly! I like having you around, especially when the girls are away. And half your stuff's here. Any outsider would think we were married!"

"Or just living together," Rachel points out. "You don't have to be married to live together anymore. Those days are gone." She takes another sip of her wine. "Christ, imagine if we were married!"

"You'd have been under the kitchen floorboards months ago," Janet laughs.

"It'd be difficult. Firstly, you love me to much to do anything like that and secondly," She turns to look at Janet. "Your kitchen floor's tiled."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that," she smiles. "Though, I can see the positives of being married. Despite my previous experience."

"Like what?" Rachel quizzes.

"Like we're both skint, so we could share bills and a house. A good excuse for a party, and we get a holiday after."

"You seem to be forgetting the shared bank accounts."

"Rach, I would never share a bank account with you."

"Why not!"

"You'd spend every penny we owned!"

"No I wouldn't!"

"Of course," Janet says sarcastically. They are quiet again, both staring down into their empty glasses.

"We should get married."

"What!?" Janet splutters.

"I think it would work."

"What?" Janet repeats incredulously.

"Come on, I'm proposing to you Jan. Will you marry me?"

"I'm straight."

"So am I."

"Well there's your answer then."

"We don't have to be in love to get married. It can just be a covenience thing."

"But marriage is meant to be based on love. People would disapprove."

"We don't have to tell the we're not in love."

"It'd all be a bit out of the blue though, wouldn't it?"

"Yeah, but we could say we've been seeing each other in secret."

"I suppose so."

They are silent for a minute.

"Say we did want to get married. We would never be able to afford it." Janet is trying to hide from herself that she is warming to the idea.

Rachel sighs. "I guess not. Unless we did it on the cheap."

"The lads would never shut up about it. We'd be the talk of the station."

"Couldn't we rise above that?" Rachel asks. Janet doesn't say a word. Rachel stares down at her glass and refills it.

"Ok," Janet says.

"What?"

"Let's do it."

"What?" Rachel asks again, but she is grinning now.

"You know what," Janet smirks at her best friend.

"But… what about all the gossip? And people?"

"The station's been so miserable lately, it'd do them good to have something to talk about. And people would just have to deal with it."

"Are you being serious Jan? We are getting married?"

"Yeah," she nods and smiles to herself. She feels fear and excitement at the same time, but its a good feeling. "No one must know that it's just for convenience though. And you're not allowed to jilt me."

"I wouldn't do that."

"You jilted Sean."

"Yeah but that was because I didn't love him."

"You don't love me!"

"I do love you. I'm just not in love with you."

Janet looks at her watch. "It's late, we should go to bed."

Rachel drains her glass, they say goodnight then both go to bed.

Rachel lies awake in bed, her stomach doing backflips. She was getting married. Though she was sure Janet would change her mind in the morning, she was still excited. She was definitely getting an "I knew it" from her sister, but she didn't mind. Her sister questioned her sexuality regularly as she was in her 30s and still unmarried.

She gets out of bed to use the bathroom. As she walked back to the spare room she heard a voice.

"Rach?"

"Yeah?" She whispers back. God knows why they were whispering, there were the only ones in the house. Janet appears at the door.

"Can't you sleep?"

"No," Rachel grimaces.

"Me neither. Do you want a hot chocolate?"

"I'm not six."

"Is that a yes or a no?"

Rachel shrugs. "Ok then. I'll wait here." She sits down on the landing while Janet goes downstairs and returns with two steaming mugs.

"Ta," Rachel says as Janet sits down next to her. She takes a sip.

"Christ! What have you put in it?"

"Bailey's," Janet replies. "Always gets me to sleep."

"In hot chocolate?"

"Are you complaining about recieving alcohol? I think hell just froze over."

"I'm not complaining, I've just never heard of them together before."

They drink their chocolate in silence for a few minutes.

"Are we really getting married?" Rachel asks.

Janet pauses then nods. "I think so. If you want to."

"You know me Jan, I'm game for anything."

"But no telling the we're not in love. We have to be convincing too."

"Sure. It'll be our secret."

* * *

**Reviews are always welcome and help keep me motivated :)**


	2. Chapter 2

H**ello! I think this is the fastest I've updated a story ever! Here's the latest chapter. Mistakes are my own. Enjoy:)**

**N**

**xxx**

* * *

Janet knocked quietly on the door to Gill's office. "Can I come in?"

"Sure, cock. What's up?" Gill replies, her gaze not moving from her computer screen. Only when she hears the click of the door shutting does she look up, realising it must be important. She gestures for Janet to sit down. She does so, shuffling uncomfortably.

"I um, we - me and Rachel - we have this thing at eleven. An appointment with someone. And we really can't miss it because there isn't another one for a couple of months. We only got in today because there was a cancellation. Do you mind if we both nip out for an hour?"

"Don't tell me the daft mare's gone and got herself up the spout again. She just can't keep her knickers up can she?"

"No," Janet interrupts. "It's nothing anywhere near that." She holds up her hands to stop Gill asking anymore questions. "Look - all will be revealed later. We just need to know for definite what's happening first, ok?" Janet smiles at her friend.

Gill raises an eyebrow. "Ok. Go. But I'm expecting to be filled in as soon as you get back."

"You'll be the first to what happens," Janet stands up, smoothing down her skirt and goes back out to Rachel.

"Sorted," she says as she sits down.

Rachel grins. "Great. I still can't believe this is happening."

"And I still can't believe what I'm getting myself into," Janet replies with a smirk.

-x-x-x-

"Where are they going to ma'am?" Kevin asks, watching as they both leave the room.

"Damned if I know. But, as always Kevin, it's none of your bloody business," Gill replies with a tired sarcastic smile.

"Off for a shag I bet," he mutters to Pete.

"I beg your pardon, DC Lumb!" Gill raises her voice, putting emphasis on his rank knowing he was still sensitive about failing his Sargent exams.

"Sorry ma'am," he looks at the floor guiltily. Gill sighs and continues on her way to the evidence room.

-x-x-x-

"So how long have you been together?" The lady, Ms Dylan, that they were meeting at the registry office asks.

They look at each other, panicked. "Oh, ages. A year or so," Janet says in her smoothest voice possible.

"Yeah. And we decided that we'd been together long enough and we love," Rachel almost choked out the word. "Each other very much so there was no time like the present to get married."

Ms Dylan smiles. "I've just a few more questions to ask and then we'll talk about approximate dates, venues, stuff like that. Has either one of you been married before?"

"Yes," Janet grimaces. "I have."

"Divorced now though, I assume."

"Yes," Janet replies.

"Kids?"

"Two girls."

"Any between you?"

Rachel looks at Ms Dylan like she's just dropped out of a tree and Janet gives a a kick under the table.

"No," Janet answers, giving Rachel a look. Rachel rolls her eyes.

Ms Dylan asks them a few more questions then closes her notepad.

"Right, now all the boring stuff's over we can talk about the good stuff. How many people do you plan on inviting?"

Rachel and Janet look at each other. "Um, well there'll be your family, and possibly Alison and her's," Rachel starts.

"Yeah and people from work. Anyone else?" Janet looks at Rachel.

"I don't think so. Unless you want to invite any friends?"

"No I don't think so, do you?"

"Not a chance. There all tossers," Rachel looks back as Ms Dylan. "So probably about thirty, forty people."

"Ok, would you like an exact date now or just an idea of what month or week you want it to be?"

Rachel looks at Janet. "I have my diary if you want to set an exact date."

"If you want to, yeah," Janet says breathily, catching Rachel's eye and her stomach filling up with butterflies. This was actually happening.

Rachel keeps eye contact for a few second longer then reaches into her bag for her diary, smiling to herself. Janet rolls her eyes as she sees the battered, graffitied diary that she'd bought her for Christmas only 10 weeks ago. Janet pulls out her own, smirking as she notices how pristine and well kept her's looked compared to Rach's.

"So what month were you thinking of?"

"Soon," Rachel says.

"What about June?" Janet asks. "We've got a good bit of time to prepare then."

"We've got times on the 6th, 13th, 14th and 28th?"

"What day's the 28th?" Janet questions.

"A Saturday."

"Perfect," they both smile.

-x-x-x-

"Are you being serious?" Gill's eyes were so wide they looked as if they would drop out.

They look at each other and grin. "Yeah."

"Wow," Gill sits back in her chair. "Well, I'd never have guessed. How long has it been going on for!"

Rachel giggles, looking at the floor. "Oh, absolutely ages ma'am. I'm very surprised you didn't notice, being a DCI and that," Janet smirks at her friend who just laughs and shakes her head.

"I'm sorry to say that Kevin might have had a lucky guess."

"What!" Rachel and Janet both exclaimed.

"Oh, he made some stupid comment this morning about you shagging each other. Well, I now realise it wasn't such a stupid suggestion after all. Are you sure you're not winding me up?"

"Not a windup at all ma'am," Rachel says. "We've got a date and everything. Saturday June 28th."

"Oh my god," Gill says, realisation setting in. "Well you'd better bugger off and tell everyone then, they seem interested." She nods out the window and they turn around just in time to see everyone pretend to get back to work. Rachel and Janet smile at each other and go out to sit back at their desks.

"What was all that about?" Kevin was the first to ask. Everyone else in the room was quiet, listening.

"Break it to him Rach," Janet smirks.

Rachel laughs and looks straight at Kevin. She could see every possibility running through his head.

"We're getting married."

* * *

**please don't forget to review! They're what keeps me going :) x**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi! Hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

**N xxx**

* * *

"What time do we have to be at your sister's again?" Janet looks through her dressing table mirror at Rachel.

"Half past," Rachel replies, applying her makeup hurriedly.

"We've got half an hour then," Janet turns around to look at Rachel. "You thirsty? I'm gasping. I'll put the kettle on."

Janet gets up and leaves the room and Rachel stares after her. She was getting used to the idea of Janet being her wife now, and they were closer than ever. Rachel had stayed at Janet's since their decision and on many occasions they had stayed up to the early hours, chatting and getting drunk, laughing about how ridiculous all of this was. Tasie and Elise were getting used to it now too, though it was a bit difficult at first. Tasie was thrilled when they told her, much to their relief. But Elise seemed almost angry. She'd gone off into a rant about how they trusted Rachel and all the time she was shagging their mother, but Janet quietly explained to her that they were in fact not actually 'shagging' each other and though she was still upset she seemed to calm down a bit.

Rachel really couldn't be bothered telling Alison. Talking to her was a drain enough without the hundreds of questions she would no doubt ask when she found out Rachel was engaged. To a woman. Ugh. Rachel snaps out of her thoughts as Janet comes back through the door with two steaming mugs of coffee. Rachel takes a sip of her's and resumes applying her makeup.

"Twenty minutes," Janet says, sitting down on the bed next to Rachel. "Do you want me to do your hair to save us some time?"

"Go on then," Rachel replies, concentrating on her eyeliner more than anything else. Janet goes to the spare room to fetch Rachel's hairbrush. She starts to comb through Rachel's hair and Rachel feels herself stiffen. Janet's soft fingers delicately touch the back of Rachel's neck as she pulls the hair to style it. Rachel feels her mouth begin to water and tries to swallow in the least obvious way she can and realises she wants something that has never once crossed her mind before in all of her life.

She shakes herself mentally, realising it must just be the fact they are getting married going to her head and giving her ideas she would never dream of if they weren't in that situation. And that Janet would never feel the same.

Janet jumps off the bed to find a hair clip and soon they are both ready and driving round the corner to Alison's.

"Right, so, remember when we tell her to be convincing and coupley," Janet says as they pull up outside. "But don't overdo it. Just do it how we've been practising."

"Yes, I know," Rachel rolls her eyes. Janet gives her a poke.

"And no telling her the wrong date for the ceremony."

Rachel's eyes widen in fake shock. "Would I do that?" She says sarcastically. Janet laughs and they both get out of the car and knock on the door.

-x-x-x-

"That was a lovely dinner Alison. Thank you," Janet says as they go through to the sitting room. She shoots Rachel a look and she mutters a polite 'thank you' to her sister before sitting down next to Janet. She takes a deep breath. Here goes nothing. She shuffles a little closer to Janet and clears her throat.

"Ali," she starts, her voice was slightly shaky but confident at the same time. "I - we - have something we need to tell you." She looks at Janet who gives her a kind smile of encouragement. She hesitates, then puts her hand on Janet's, giving it a small squeeze. She looks back to her sister, whose face is now twisted with confusion.

"We're getting married," Rachel smiled, leaning closer to Janet so their bodies rested against each other just as they'd practiced. The physical contact was causing Rachel's head to spin and her heart stops as she could have sworn Janet's breathing had become more irregular. Though it was probably the stress of telling Alison.

Alison doesn't respond for a second as the information sinks in. Then a huge smile spreads across her face.

"I knew it!" She says. Rachel rolls her eyes. Here we go. "I've always had this sneaking suspicion about you Rach. You've never really been overly keen on lads. At first I thought you just needed to find the right one, but they couldn't all be that bad. And with you, Janet, it was as obvious as the nose on my face." Janet's eyebrows shoot up in surprise and she gives Alison a smile of false agreement. Rachel feels like banging her head on a brick wall. Her sister just had that way with words that could offend anyone. She gives Janet an apologetic look as her sister rambles on and on and only stops when Janet looks at her watch.

"Gosh! Is that the time!" She says. "We really ought to be going - early start tomorrow." Her and Rachel both stand to leave, thanking Alison once more for the meal.

"Let me know when you've set a date," Alison says as they go out the door.

"It's the four-" Rachel starts.

"Twenty-eighth," Janet interrupts, giving Rachel a nudge. "Twenty-eighth of June. Saturday."

"My god! That's only a couple of months away!" Alison exclaims.

"We wanted it to be as soon as possible," Janet smiles. "Good night."

* * *

**Please review as it keeps me motivated to write more :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi:) sorry this took a bit longer than the last one, I've been really tired this weekend and lacking motivation a bit so I've only managed to write this but I'm gonna try and have the next chapter of Blue Room ready for Friday. This chapter isn't as much wedding planning as the others and is more focused on Rachel and Janet, but there's more on the preparation for the wedding in the next chapter! Thank you for your previous reviews and please keep them coming :) Enjoy :D **

**N**

**xxx**

* * *

"Janet, what've you got on today?" Gill's voice comes from the other side of the toilet door. Janet sighs. Never a moments peace.

"Arrest forms, typing up notes, stuff like that," she replies with false politeness.

"Do you fancy a shift in uniform?"

Janet's mouth opens in shock. "Not really no," she says incredulously. "Why?"

"Because the chief con just rang me up asking if I could spare a couple of officers to do a late shift because its the marathon today so half the MMP are out making sure nothing kicks off there, and the other half are on Syndicate 3's missing from home case."

"Why me?" Janet asks. "What about Kevin?"

"First person I asked," Gill says, leaning against the sink. "He's heading down to traffic with his tail between his legs as we speak."

"So why do you need me then?" Janet flushes the toilet and goes to wash her hands.

"Because he said to send 'two or three' officers," Gill rolls her eyes. "I did try and tell him that you're all needed here but were the only syndicate with nothing on. "

Janet sighs. "Fine. Ok, I'll do it. But you owe me!"

Gill grins. "Brilliant!"

"What's a late shift again?" Janet frowns. It had been so long since she had been on the beats she didn't know what times 'early' and 'late' shifts meant.

"One til eight forty five," Gill says, heading for the door. "You're on patrol, there should be some spare uniforms in the downstairs locker rooms."

"What?! Gill! You never said I actually had to we-"

"Got to go, see you in a bit," Gill almost laughs as she makes her quick exit. Janet groans and makes her way downstairs.

-x-x-x-

Rachel flicks the little bobble head cat that sits on her desk, looking at the time on her desktop. Thirteen minutes until she could go back in with Daffod. She had finished typing up her notes from earlier and now all she could do was wait. She fiddles with the gem on the matching ring her and Janet had bought in the sale at Argos to signify their engagement. Rachel smiles to herself. Marrying her best mate, eh. What more could a girl wish for? Though she was finding it harder to look at Janet as her best mate and instead was beginning to see her in a different way. Maybe it was just because they were getting married and in Rachel's head that was a romantic relationship. Though she'd never been that interested in Sean even when they were engaged. And the more she looked back, the more she could see how her feelings for Janet had begun to change before they'd even thought of this crazy idea.

"I'm straight though," Rachel mutters to herself, a small frown crossing her face. "I am not a lesbian." And it was true. She had never looked at another woman the way she looked at men. She didn't even fancy any female celebrities. So what was wrong with her?

Her thoughts are interrupted as she looks up to see Janet entering the MIT. Her jaw drops. She had never seen her in uniform before, they'd only met when Rachel had moved to MIT. Before she can stop herself a low whistle escapes her lips. Oh my god. Her heart stops and her cheeks turn pink but Janet just smiles fondly at her, causing her stomach to flip.

"Gill's got me and Kev doing a shift in bloody uniform," she pulls a face. "I just came up to get my banana."

Rachel laughs. "Why didn't you say no? Everyone else did."

"Exactly! Apparently you lot are all busy!" She looks around. "Busy my arse!"

Rachel laughs harder. "Pete and I are off back in with Toby Daffod in ten and Mitch and Lee are in court at four. No idea what the rest of them are doing - hiding probably."

Janet sighs. "Well I'll probably see you at home about nine," she says. "Have fun with Daffod."

-x-x-x-

Janet yawned. It was half past five and all they'd done so far today was move on a bunch of old homeless men and stop someone because their brake light wasn't working. She didn't realise how dull uniform work actually was until she joined MIT. Her partner wasn't up to much. He was spending most of his time picking his teeth and making lesbian jokes that weren't even funny. She jumped when her radio crackled on her shoulder.

"Ma'am, we've got a situation on Brook Road with a young girl indicating she's going to harm herself. We'd appreciate it if you'd help us out with this one. We've been trying to talk her out of it for half an hour now but I don't even think she registered we were there."

Janet snaps into action, flicking on the sirens and starting the engine. "I'll be there in five."

-x-x-x-

Rachel sits silently on the sofa in Janet's living room, staring into her empty wine glass. Where the fuck was Janet? She said she'd be home about nine but it was now gone eleven. She flicks through the channels on the telly again but there's still nothing on so she just leaves it on the news.

She's just about to try call Janet again when she hears a key in the door. She smiles as she hears the familiar sound of her fiancée hanging up her coat and discarding her keys on the table next to the front door.

"What time d'ya call this?" Rachel calls to Janet. She doesn't get a reply and instead only hears the faint sound of Janet's feet on the stairs. Rachel frowns and gets up to follow her but is stopped in her tracks by the newsreader announcing a new story.

"...news just in - a thirteen year old girl jumped to her death in Oldham today after hours of negotiation with police. The girl had run away from a nearby secure unit and question are now being raised about the competence of the staff there…"

Rachel rubs her forehead and sighs as she realises where Janet must have been for the past two hours.

-x-x-x-

Rachel knocks on the door to Janet's bedroom.

"Jan?" She sticks her head around the door. Janet is lying in bed still fully clothed and facing the opposite way. Rachel walk round and crouches down in front of her friend.

"Are you alright?" She says softly. Janet says nothing, her eyes shining. "Stupid question. Sorry. I brought you a drink and some biscuits. Sit up chick."

Janet sits up and shifts to the side a bit, lifting the duvet for Rachel to get in. She climbs in and passes the mug and biscuits to Janet, keeping a bourbon for herself. Janet raises the mug to her mouth and takes a sip. Baileys and hot chocolate. Her eyes fill up with tears.

"She was just a child," she whispers, her voice wobbly. "She was younger than Tasie. And she felt so alone that she had to do that. I couldn't save her-" A sob escapes her lips.

"There was nothing you could have done," Rachel says softly, placing a hand on Janet's arm.

"I know," Janet replies quietly. "And that's why I feel so shit. Why wasn't there something I could have done?"

Rachel smiles weakly. "Because that's just the way it goes sometimes."

Janet is quiet for a few minutes then speaks. "You're right," she sighs. "I'm just upset because I'm used to seeing bodies that are already dead, not ones whose death I've just witnessed."

Rachel gives her friend's arm a squeeze. "Come on, drink up and get some sleep." She turns to get out of the bed but Janet catches her arm.

"Stay."

Janet's voice is so soft Rachel isn't even sure she'd said anything. She looks around at Janet, trying to read her facial expression. But it's too dark to see anything but her still watery eyes.

"Ok," Rachel says breathily. She lifts her legs back up into bed and waits for Janet to finish her drink and biscuits. Once she's done they both settle down to sleep and Janet curls up to Rachel. Rachel freezes, unsure of what to do, of how to read the situation.

"Put your arms around me Rach," Janet whispers, her breath tickling Rachel's neck. Rachel slides her arms around her waist and listens as she sighs happily. Rachel blinks several times, wondering what on earth was happening. Is it possible that Janet has feelings for her too?

"Jan?" Rachel whispers.

Janet is fast asleep.

* * *

**Don't forget to review and let me know what you think :) xxx**


End file.
